What’s next & the greatest gift you can give me on my 29th birthday!

December 21, 2016

Hello dear readers! Happy holidays! Today is my 29th birthday. TWENTY NINE. Where on earth does the time go?! I wanted to pop in and say hello from Boise, ID, where I’m spending the holidays with my family. This will be my last post of 2016, and I wanted to end it with a few fun updates for y’all! Since a few of you have asked, what’s next with my program?

Dietetic internship

For the next 8ish months, I’ll be a dietetic intern at various sites around Washington. I’m starting with a 10-week clinical rotation and will move to my 7-8 week practicum next. My cohort will still convene once a week, and I’ll have weekly assignments to complete. So while classes are officially over, the work doesn’t stop!

Defending my thesis

I cannot believe I’m actually typing these words…but I defend my thesis on December 29th! As you may recall, I worked crazy hours over the summer on my thesis in hope of graduating in August 2017 (it is common for students to stay an extra quarter to finish.) My amazing thesis advisor really encouraged me throughout the fall quarter to get it finished before my internships start…so I did! After I defend and I make any necessary changes, we’ll be submitting my paper for publication. It’s hard to believe that I may be a published author in the next year!

UW LEAH Fellowship

Things with my fellowship are going very well! I’ve had the chance to shadow some other disciplines, and it’s been an invaluable experience to learn how our roles overlap. It’s also been an incredible experience to have my professional opinion valued and heard. While I may still be an intern, I have learned SO much in the last 15 months. It’s getting real, and I LOVE it. I’ll be heading to a conference in New Orleans in March, so stay tuned for some exciting announcements in the next few months!

Feeling at peace with exactly where I am

Throughout the latter half of this year, I’ve explicitly and implicitly shared the highs and lows that I’ve experienced in my professional and personal life. After a lot of self-reflection, and with the help of my amazing family, friends, and cohort at UW, I’ve finally reached a place where I am genuinely content with my life exactly as it is. I’m learning to live in the moment, to rely less on others for happiness, to eliminate the people and activities from my life that aren’t building me up, and to channel any negative energy into the areas of my life that make me incredibly happy. And with that, I’m excited to share that I will be launching a new project at the end of January! I’m not going to disclose any details about it now, but you can head over to my new instagram account for a sneak peek. Be sure to sign up to receive an email when the site launches!

The greatest birthday gift from you, dear readers

I’ve absolutely loved sharing my RD2BE journey with you for the past four years. I receive emails weekly from prospective students and it truly warms my heart to hear that my blog has inspired or helped you in some way. I am currently collecting testimonials from prospective students that I’ve worked with to showcase on my new site. If you feel inclined to share how my guidance has helped you, it would mean the world to me if you could fill out the form below. Thank you, times a million.

With that, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday! XOXO

First Name, Last Initial (or anonymous)(required)

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About Lauren

Lauren Rice, MPH recently graduated from the Coordinated Dietetics Program at the University of Washington. In January 2017, she opened Nutrition Elevated, her anti-diet, #bodypositive nutrition counseling and consulting small business (www.nutrition-elevated.com).

Hello and welcome!

I'm LAUREN, and I started Just a Pinch in 2014 when I was applying to graduate school to become a registered dietitian nutritionist. In 2017, I started my own small business, Nutrition Elevated, LLC, to help share the breadth of knowledge I learned as a nutrition graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle!